Thief2 Uniprocessor Util

SiO2 on 27/10/2006 at 14:16

As you may know, if thief2.exe sees two or more cpus it goes kinda weird (on my machine it locks up).

I got fed up with having to set the darn cpu affinity of Thief2.exe on my dual-core machine every time I play a FM, so I fired up Visual Studio and made me a tiny exe (68kb) that sets thief2.exe affinity to single processor (uniprocessor). This exe sits on my desktop. I do GarrettLoader->Play button->Alt-Tab from Thief2 main menu->Run my util->Alt-Tab back to thief->Start Taffing.

My question is, would this util be of interest to others?

Vigil on 27/10/2006 at 14:36

Wouldn't it be possible to have your exe run thief2.exe itself, thereby saving the trouble of alt-tabbing out? Hrm, of course maybe Garrettloader et al insist on running a thief2.exe (that is, you can't customise the filename you use), then you'd have to rename thief2.exe to something else and change the affinity exe accordingly...

SlyFoxx on 27/10/2006 at 14:37

That's cool but somebody else has come up with a one time only fix. It's linked from the Thief Gen FAQ.

(http://www.ttlg.com/forums/showthread.php?t=75031#hyperthread)

SiO2 on 27/10/2006 at 14:48

Quote Posted by Vigil

It was just the simplest way of doing it at the time. :cool:

I'll take a look at the permanent fix though... :thumb:

clearing on 27/10/2006 at 14:54

Download file (http://darkfate.ru/index.cgi?show=files/misc_stuff/dark_engine_fix.7z) DarkEngineFix.exe.

smithpd on 27/10/2006 at 15:47

Quote Posted by clearing

Download file (http://darkfate.ru/index.cgi?show=files/misc_stuff/dark_engine_fix.7z) DarkEngineFix.exe.

Please explain. What is that EXE? Who wrote it? What does it do? EXE files can be dangerous. A zip with a readme might be better....

clearing on 27/10/2006 at 16:36

Sorry for my English.
This file - too most: (http://www16.brinkster.com/salvage/thief/darkengine.htm)
All in one. As a matter of convenience.

Quote:

The permanent way to fix this problem(without turning off Hyperthreading) is this:

Download imagecfg.
Unzip it to Windows\system32\ as well as Windows\system32\dllcache\.
Make a backup copy of your exe and icd(for Thief 2 and System Shock 2) files.
Open notepad and enter the following for Thief/G:
imagecfg -u thief.exe
imagecfg -a 0x1 thief.exe
pause

For Thief 2 it's:
imagecfg -u thief2.exe
imagecfg -u thief2.icd
imagecfg -a 0x1 thief2.exe
imagecfg -a 0x1 thief2.icd
pause

For System Shock 2 it's:
imagecfg -u shock2.exe
imagecfg -u shock2.icd
imagecfg -a 0x1 shock2.exe
imagecfg -a 0x1 shock2.icd
pause

For Grim Fandango it's:
imagecfg -u GRIMFANDANGO.EXE
imagecfg -a 0x1 GRIMFANDANGO.EXE
pause
Save the file in the game directory as "processor.bat" including the quotes.
Double click the file processor.bat (must be in the game directory). You will see something similar to the following:
D:\Games\Thief2>imagecfg -u thief2.exe
thief2.exe contains contains no configuration information
thief2.exe contains a Subsystem Version of 4.0
thief2.exe updated with the following configuration information:
Image can only run in uni-processor mode on multi-processor systems
Image can only run in uni-processor mode on multi-processor systems

D:\Games\Thief2>imagecfg -u thief2.icd
thief2.icd contains no configuration information
thief2.icd contains a Subsystem Version of 4.0
thief2.icd updated with the following configuration information:
Image can only run in uni-processor mode on multi-processor systems
Image can only run in uni-processor mode on multi-processor systems

D:\Games\Thief2>imagecfg -a 0x1 thief2.exe
thief2.exe contains the following configuration information:
thief2.exe contains a Subsystem Version of 4.0
Image can only run in uni-processor mode on multi-processor systems
thief2.exe updated with the following configuration information:
Process Affinity Mask: 00000001

D:\Games\Thief2>imagecfg -a 0x1 thief2.icd
thief2.icd contains no configuration information
thief2.icd contains a Subsystem Version of 4.0
Image can only run in uni-processor mode on multi-processor systems
thief2.icd updated with the following configuration information:
Process Affinity Mask: 00000001

D:\Games\Thief2>pause
Press any key to continue . . .

This not virus :cheeky: This on Thief site (http://darkfate.ru)

Quote:

A zip with a readme might be better....

Sorry, only russian language.

smithpd on 27/10/2006 at 17:19

clearing,

Thank you, but it is still not clear. I am guessing from what you wrote that the posted EXE is a self extracting archive that contains several modified EXE's that are processed according to the Salvage instructions above. Is this correct?

FYI, the process above modifies the original exe files, and there is no way to go back. Note the following I found on the internet:

"I mentioned that you need to create a backup of that .exe file when you use it, because it modifies the file directly and writes new header information."

Hit Deity on 27/10/2006 at 18:24

WinLauncherXP has worked flawlessly for me for a year now.

It's here: (http://www.majorgeeks.com/WinLauncherXP_d870.html)

It's free (always good) and easy to use. You just have to remember to start Garrettloader (or Darkloader) from it instead. It's also been a useful program for several other "legacy" games...Neverwinter Nights, Jedi Knights, Command & Conquer, Splinter Cell, the list goes on...

potterr on 27/10/2006 at 19:13

For info GarrettLoader has a built in Plugin Tools system, you can just add your exe into it and set it to run automatically before launching thief (or any dark engine game, or any game), tell GL to wait for your exe or batch file to finish and hey presto you can do any custom tasks before launching Thief. Although not having a dual processor PC I'm not sure if you need to asssign the processor before or after Thief is running?